Meat-based sayings like “Bringing home the bacon” could soon be banned in a bid to stop offending vegans, it has been claimed.

Sayings like “killing two birds with one stone” and “flogging a dead horse” are also on the list of anti-animal expressions soon to get the axe.

Shareena Hamzah of Swansea University says they are going out of fashion and are offensive to vegans, reports the Daily Record .

Meanwhile, Animal Rights charity Peta is backing the claims and is calling for people to replace saying like “take the bull by the horns” with “take the flower by the thorns”.

Dr Hamzah believes that as the vegan movement grows, so will awareness of animal cruelty, which will discourage people to use less meat-themed phrases.

She has told The Conversation academic website: “If veganism forces us to confront the realities of food’s origins, then this increased awareness will undoubtedly be reflected in our language and literature.

"The increased awareness of vegan issues will filter through our consciousness to produce new modes of expression."

However Dr Hamzah adds it was unlikely such sayings would be removed completely, and using them less could even increase their impact.

She added: "The image of 'killing two birds with one stone' is, if anything, made more powerful by the animal-friendly alternative of 'feeding two birds with one scone'."

Here are some alternative animal-friendly phrases

Peta has suggested the following can be used instead of meat themed phrases:

Out: Bring home the bacon

In: Bring home the bagels

Out: Let the cat out of the bag

In: Spill the beans

Out: All your eggs in one basket

In: All your berries in one bowl

Out: Open a can of worms

In: Open Pandora’s box

Out: Flog a dead horse

In: Feed a fed horse

Out: Hold your horses

In: Hold the phone

Out: Killing two birds with one stone

In: Feeding two birds with one scone

Out: Taking the bull by the horns

In: Taking the flower by the thorns

Out: More than one way to skin a cat

In: More than one way to peel a potato

Out: Be the guinea pig

In: Be the test tube

Peta also hopes the phrase 'to flog a dead horse' could be replaced with 'to feed a fed horse'.

Another alternative saying for "more than one way to skin a cat" could be "more than one way to peel a potato", it said.

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